Book of Cromwell
by DaCosta Rosencraft
Summary: A new take on the original Book of the Shadows. What if the Rosencraft met their match, and then their better? Yugi finds himself confronted by Drusilla Arenzai, ruler of the Neo Nemesis Empire which has conquered much of the universe, only moments after the death of close friends and family. What begins is an adventure as Drusilla and Yugi travel the universe expanding her empire.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Things Fall Apart

The battlefield was soaked in blood, so much blood. It seemed hundreds of people died here for all the blood that was spilled. The sounds of explosions raged with a ferocity like the end of the world was at hand. As one might expect from the end of the world, there was also the sound of tears falling from stained cheeks. The drops of bitterness and remorse fell for each of the dead, a pitter-patter of rain-like sorrow marking a slow drumbeat on the ground.

As the fifth body hit the ground, one side was already preparing to give up the fight. He'd accomplished much in this battle. It was a horribly bloody battle, and he'd be the victor this day. Even if he was to retreat in the face of his enemy, he'd be the victor. One could wonder what was to come of the war between these two sides at the rate things were going. He was injured, badly, but he could run now, recover, and come back another day to finish this war.

This wasn't your average war. It wasn't a county against another country. It wasn't even really a planet against another planet. It was one man, Sephiroth, with the aid of the chaos he was able to initiate, against his enemy, the Rosencraft family. It should have been simple. By numbers alone they should be able to avert the deadly hands of a single foe. But he knew that too. Sephiroth was no fool. He knew he couldn't win in a brutish headlong confrontation. So he planned, and worked behind the veil of their loved ones. He took control of the minds of their loved ones and used that control to set the foundation for his desires.

With this, Sephiroth had gained a decided advantage. He was well positioned for his eventual victory. His biggest threats were gone now, so he could prepare for his final stages of his plans. But that was not to be. Even as he was retreating from this battle, the end of his ambitions was descending from the skies.

That day had been a day that would live on in terrible infamy for ages. Several ships filled the sky over the Earth that day. One of the first arrived over Crystal Point in the early afternoon. It was some time before these ships attempted any sort of communication. Those were harrowing, nerve splitting hours of waiting. There had been reports that at least one nation tried mobilizing their military in an act of aggression, only to have its efforts swatted from the skies like they were nothing.

That attack was most fearful of all. Many nations tried feverishly to get all the others on the same page of an agreement not to provoke these extraterrestrial visitors. But one leader or another had an itchy trigger finger. They all feared a retaliatory strike would occur before they could get their heads around how to defend themselves. But the visitors didn't retaliate. It was though they were saying, "sorry, we thought that was just a tiny mosquito flying our way. We didn't know you were attacking us".

The tattered remnants of the Rosencraft were the first to make contact. They didn't do so on purpose. They had other things to worry about with Sephiroth. They'd just lost four of their pillars to him only a few hours earlier. They were having a little trouble mustering the will to care about anything else at the moment. The visitors, or more accurately the conquerors, didn't really know anything about that. Quite frankly they wouldn't really care either. These conquerors knew that the Rosencraft were the biggest threat to conquest and came to them directly.

The Rosencraft "were" the biggest threats. That became past-tense several hours ago, possibly before then as well. Their pillars of strength had crumbled. They were lucky to be alive now at all. More importantly, they had little hope of being able to resist another assault by Sephiroth, much less the potential of this possible enemy. The one who was supposed to take over as the leader of the Rosencraft now was so distraught they were in a virtual catatonic state.

"The way you all look upon me… I assume you've seen my face somewhere in the records of the kingdom then. Is that the case?" Drusilla Arenzai asked, looking upon the Rosencraft with stern, cold, eyes.

"Y-yeah," May Rosencraft answered tentatively. She and the rest of the Rosencraft were trying to gauge Drusilla's strength, knowing they might have to fight.

"You all seem to have suffered quite the battle before I could even arrive. I don't know whether to be cheerful or disappointed. What fun is a conquest not won by your own hands? Still, it does save me quite a lot of work not having to lay you all down myself,"

"You damn…" Lafiel lashed out, Sisi holding her back.

"Watch your mouth," one of Drusilla's guards demanded, preparing to strike Lafiel with his lance for her remarks. Drusilla raised her hand to stop him. He responded immediately, returning to his position. Drusilla looked towards Lafiel, Sisi Rosencraft holding fast to the bitterly furious Lafiel with the river of tears flowing from her eyes down her cheeks. Yugi Asakura stood between Lafiel and Drusilla, apparently having been prepared to take the blow that was meant for Lafiel.

"Not much in stature, soft features, but astonishing power and marvelous potential," Drusilla recited as if reading a shopping list. She then started walking towards him. "And finally, a heart that places great trust and faith in friends, despite what risks it may invite. A grandmother, I understand, usually loves to heap praise on her child. Your grandmother is no different, but is correct in her assessment I believe. I've no doubt, you are Yugi Asakura," she said, placing her hand along his cheek. He recoiled from her a bit, unable to hide his fear of her.

None of them knew Drusilla Arenzai by much more than the stories they'd read of her. Yugi knew even less, his only having recently had opportunity to read about any of that history. It hadn't been clear whether she was alive or not, though he'd assumed that she had to have been dead. Seeing her now he had a hard time believing it, let alone that she would approach him with compliments and talking about a grandmother he never knew.

The stories went that long ago on the planet Nemesis there was a war. It was a brutal affair that lasted on and off for decades over a somewhat trite issue when one looks back on it now. Nevertheless, one side in that war was led by the Arenzai family. It is during this war that the Rosencraft originally came to prominence. The way it was written in the books Yugi had read, Drusilla Arenzai came to age as the leader of the Arenzai family at about the same time the Rosencraft banished the Arenzai from the planet. The fate of the Arenzai after that was unknown.

The reasonable assumption would have been that they all died, at least those very people who were forced off the planet, in the many centuries ago that this happened. Yet the Drusilla that stood before them now looked identical to the one whose picture they'd seen in the archives and textbooks.

"How do you know me?" Yugi asked, that not being the real question he wanted to ask but the first one that came out.

"As I said, your grandmother has gone on and on about you quite a bit,"

"My grandmother died," Yugi replied bitterly. He was obviously offended that, as he saw it, someone would try to use his dead family to bait him.

"As much of a chatterbox she is, I sometimes wish she were. Nevertheless, your grandmother is still very much alive. I can allow you to see her shortly, if you'd like,"

Stunned, Yugi couldn't respond. His legs felt weak. It wasn't that long ago he'd realized he had no blood relatives left in this world. That he'd be told he had a grandmother left him feeling… torn.

"What exactly are you up to?" Noa Rosencraft asked, taking up a defensive tone.

"I will make this clear; Mr. Asakura is afforded great leeway with me. She can be a nuisance at times, but I have much respect for his grandmother. I don't have a reason to tolerate anything from you lot here. I'd have you remember that going forward or you may find that there isn't much of a future ahead at all,"

The way she spoke to them was clearly different. She was all around an imposing figure. One could argue that they were shell-shocked after their battle with Sephiroth, so a bold and imposing figure standing before them would clearly illicit an appropriate response. Their personal confidence couldn't be that high at the moment. So as Drusilla slowly looked around they could only stay silent and toss thoughts around and around inside their heads on how to deal with her.

"Tell me, where is Lynette DeVice, the other one that woman would speak of to no end,"

"Lynette?" May started. Her voice broke up as she tried to form her words. It was a harsh pill for her to swallow, all of them to swallow, to speak of Lynette.

"I see," Drusilla sighed. "She's dead then, is she? My sympathies, Yugi Asakura. It seems your grandmother truly is the last family you have in this world,"

"What are…?"

"You must not have known. It'll be a difficult thing to hear, I'm sure, but you must listen nonetheless. You and Lynette shared a common grandmother, the one I'll be taking you to see shortly,"

The gasp let out by each of the Rosencraft there before Drusilla was like the sound of an airlock being closed. Sisi, May, Noa, and Lafiel each looked at Yugi as he dropped to his knees. His hands were in tightly bound fists pressed against the floor with such force it was as though he were trying to force his hands through it.

He stared at the floor, eyes wide, mouth agape, the brief memories he'd had of Lynette flashing through his mind. Among those were the gruesome final moments of Lynette's life; her throat ripped out and her neck torn at by a deranged and animalistic Tea Hawkins.

He hadn't known Lynette long. In fact, he couldn't claim to really know her at all, which in this case was probably the best thing for him. It would be hard enough having her last moments playing in his mind as just a friend of a friend, her mind controlled by another and made to fight her loved ones. To now hear that she was also his own family, it was a little more than he was able to really process at the moment. He hadn't yet even determined what to make of these claims of the woman calling herself Drusilla Arenzai, though his reaction nonetheless conveyed some belief at least.

Drusilla approached Yugi once more, kneeling down in front of him and placing her hand along his cheek again. She gently rubbed his cheek before brushing back his hair and kissing his forehead.

"The surprise of how I feel at this moment, I don't know that I can explain it to you," Drusilla whispered to him, placing her hand on his. "I find myself feeling some distress in your pain. I expected to feel nothing of the sort. So please believe me when I say that I'm sorry for the pain you feel at this moment. Come with me. I suspect that, though you know her no better than you do me, she will be able to do more to comfort you,"

Yugi's fists came unclenched, if ever so slightly. Drusilla held his in hers as she rose to her feet, softly pulling him up with her. He looked to be in a daze, dejected and mentally oblivious to his surroundings anymore. He may as well have been a marionette, waiting for his strings to be pulled. As Drusilla led him away, Lafiel jumped up.

"Wait!" Lafiel shouted in a tone that said she was highly panicked for a moment. Drusilla turned halfway around, an angry glare back at Lafiel. "P-please wait a moment, Ms. Arenzai," Lafiel continued, trying to regain her composure.

"It seems I was momentarily distracted. I should conclude my business here before attending to other matters,"

"What do you plan on doing with Yugi?" Lafiel asked.

"For now he will be reunited with his grandmother. What happens after that, I cannot say. Now, as for you lot, I have no feelings towards you. I thought you might be a threat to me, but that doesn't seem to be the case. But, I am compassionate. In that compassion I offer you three choices. First, you can fight me, in which case you will certainly die. Second, you can run off and live a life you deem fit for yourselves and watch as I take this planet under my wing. Or, your third option, you can choose to serve under me,"

"You can't…" Noa started, pausing as he saw Drusilla's guards grip their weapons a little tighter.

"I am compassionate. You will have time to think over your options. My conquest will move forward either way. You will have as much time as you desire to think things over. I will have you know, however, that I will destroy you should you interfere with my activities in any way,"

"P-please… at least allow one of us to stay with Yugi," Sisi pleaded.

"So you fear for his safety that much?" Drusilla questioned. She thought on it briefly and responded, "Very well; it makes no difference to me. Decide amongst yourselves who it shall be,"

"I'll go," Rini Rosencraft stated in a soft voice, emerging from the next room.

Serenity Rosencraft's eyes looked terribly inflamed, as though she'd been crying for days already.

Considering the loss she'd suffered, it was to be expected. It was all they could do to keep her alive this long. The thought couldn't help but surface in their minds whether she was thinking of throwing herself to a wolf out of abject grief. The wisdom of letting two suffering such grief walk off with one who seemed to have little remorse felt wrong, but they didn't really have an option. Drusilla agreed the moment Rini volunteered, and she didn't seem patient enough to let them try and talk Rini out of it.

Drusilla's guard led the way from the house, Drusilla behind him with an affectless Yugi beside her. Rini was behind them, her countenance similarly gloomy to Yugi's, with Drusilla's final guard following behind her. Noa, Sisi, May, and Lafiel couldn't be sure they would see Rini and Yugi again after this. They cursed themselves for this afterwards; they should have been able to do something, at least try to protect the remnants of their family.

With a short trip, Yugi and Rini boarded Drusilla's shuttle. About the size of a corporate jet, and shaped somewhat similarly, it was an intermediary to the much larger ships that had governments around the world in a panic. At least one mile wide and around two miles long, these ships were quite uniquely shaped; something like a backwards, elongated, mid-twentieth century fighter plane. As one report would later be famously quoted, "It was like the hammer of God had descended on us from the heavens".

The interior of the ship was quite massive. Usually ships, in particular air and space fairing vessels, tend to be minimalistic in nature. They were commonly utilitarian constructions that placed function as the overwhelming priority, even more so when dealing with a warship. Yet this was not such a vessel. There was a definite eye to luxury, at least on this ship; you could count on the idea that as the flagship this one was somewhat different from the rest. It was like a flying palace, adorned in a palette of ebony, scarlet, and violet.

No fewer than a dozen soldiers were present to celebrate the return of their empress when her shuttle landed in the hangar. They lined up along either side of a wisteria carpet with red trim. At the end of this path was a pair of automatic doors that opened into the rest of the ship. Waiting on the other side of these doors were two individuals, nondescript at first blush save for the difference in their attire that indicated them to be soldiers of perhaps a higher rank than the rest. They scurried beside Drusilla making some manner of report to her about the status of the fleet.

"Yugi! Yugi!" a woman screamed as she ran towards him as he was still walking beside Drusilla.

Yugi looked in the direction of the woman. He didn't really react to her, just raising his head to cast his sight in her direction the way one reflexively does when they hear their name called. She was a beautiful woman who looked to be at most in her late twenties. Her eyes and hair were a fiery mix of orange and red. She wasn't the classical picture of a grandmother.

She threw her arms around Yugi when she reached him, tears of joy spilling from their banks as she repeated his name again and again, as if trying to will him to be who she thought he was.

Things would change slightly in the next few minutes. First she would stop crying and calling Yugi's name in about thirty seconds. Afterwards she would ask about Lynette DeVice. Drusilla will answer her, with a bit more delicacy than when revealing to Yugi the relation he had to Lynette, that Lynette was dead. This woman would be frozen in shock, a trembling hand raised to her mouth.

Watching her eyes you could clearly see the emotional rollercoaster that overcame her in those subsequent ten to fifteen seconds. First, her eyes go wide as the words of Lynette's death register with her. Tears well-up in her eyes once more. Her eyes then narrow slightly as she tries to comprehend how such a thing can happen, a thought to ask what happened rising and falling. It falls away as she starts shifting towards anger, her eyes narrowing to barely open slits, her tears finally flowing once more. In this anger she soon starts contemplating who is to blame and how they should pay. At last, her eyes close and open a few times as she turns back to her only remaining grandchild, thinking of comforting him for their loss, but also, more subliminally, hoping she might find some solace and comfort holding him close to her chest.

In this embrace Yugi, who has been trying to bottle up his emotions, lets his tears flow now as well. He doesn't really know who he is crying for, however. The friends he lost earlier that day, the added burden of loss coming from knowing one of those people was directly related to him, or empathy for this woman who seemed to be crying so freely into him now? What was the catalyst for these tears? He didn't know now and wouldn't ever really think about it.

Drusilla beckoned Rini to follow her as she left Yugi and his grandmother to their moment. They went further into the ship, the two of Drusilla's people who had been walking beside Drusilla and reporting to her sent off to other matters partly along the way. They came upon a wide open area off one of the hallways. The circular area looked like a dining hall or some similar place, a number of round tables situated throughout the room. Off to the left was a staircase that led to an upper area that was much smaller but apparently served the same purpose. There was only a single large table here, rectangular rather than circular. The two guards who had still been escorting Drusilla stayed at the bottom of the steps as Drusilla and Rini ascended.

By the head of the table stood a waiter. He bowed slightly at the moment Drusilla was in view, proceeding next to pull out the chair for her. Once she was seated she offered a seat to Rini as well, the waiter promptly pulling out a chair for her as well. He spoke for the first time now, asking Drusilla what she wanted to drink and eat. She ordered a beverage for both herself and Rini, one Rini didn't recognize but felt she was in no position to refuse at the moment, instructing that the bottle be brought along as well.

"I've yet to hear your name," Drusilla began as the waiter left to retrieve the request. "What should I call you?"

"Serenity… Serenity Rosencraft," Rini answered somewhat aloofly. Understandably her mind was partly elsewhere.

"Serenity it is. You're different from the others, Serenity. Your eyes are like a dying dragon's,"

"I don't know what you're talking about,"

"It's different from the others, even young Yugi Asakura. It's clear you've all faced a loss you weren't expecting or prepared for, and it has left you all quite distraught. Their eyes tell the story of depression and confusion, as though they've found themselves hopelessly lost in a maze. However, I also can see in the others a will to keep fighting for an outlet. You, however, show none of that. You're eyes are dead, as though you have already surrendered to your fate. The others fear me. They are concerned for Mr. Asakura, and themselves, terrified of their mortality. You, however, are not. You're already dead inside. You're hoping to die on the outside as well. I think you were hoping for the right opportunity to throw yourself headlong into death after young Mr. Asakura and Jennifer could meet,"

"Jennifer?"

"Jennifer DeVice is the grandmother of Lynette DeVice and Yugi Asakura, who young Asakura met earlier,"

Rini leapt up from her seat. She intended to bound down the stairs and back the way she'd come with Drusilla. It was clear that the mention of the name Jennifer DeVice triggered some thought in Rini's mind. With the vicious expression on her face when Drusilla's guards blocked her path, it was obvious that her intent was to cause some harm to Jennifer DeVice, if not kill her.

"Please sit back down, Ms. Serenity Rosencraft," Drusilla said calmly, still in her own seat.

"If I don't?" Rini replied tritely, not goading Drusilla as much as she was speaking the very thoughts she was processing in her mind.

"You will sit down. You have a reason to live now, don't you? I don't know what it is that makes you display such a visceral reaction towards Jennifer DeVice, but that alone seems to have brought you back to life however briefly it ultimately turns out to be. You don't want to lose the chance to challenge her first, so you won't risk dying before then,"

"You know all that, and you still won't do anything,"

"You mean kill you? Was that your hope? That I might kill you before you traumatized Mr. Asakura once more today by murdering his last living relative? You must not even trust yourself that much at the moment. Please, sit down and explain to me what it is about Jennifer DeVice that would rob you of your inhibitions so readily,"

With a final vengeful glare to the hall that she entered this room through, Rini calmly turned around and ascended the steps back to the table. She neatly sat down once more, bowing her head in frustration over her thoughts about Jennifer, and a little about how helpless she felt right now that Drusilla had been able to read and outplay her so easily. The waiter from earlier returned now with the beverage order, placing the wine glasses before Drusilla and Rini and filling them from the freshly opened bottle. Drusilla indicated she wanted him to leave, prompting the waiter to leave the bottle on the table before departing.

"This is a fine liquor that is produced on a special farm in my sister's territory back home on Neo Nemesis," Drusilla said as she swirled her glass a little and took a sip. "I've been told that the process of making wines on this planet is similar. Even so, this beverage is made from a fruit from Nemesis that my sister and I grew aboard the ship that took us from there long ago. There's no fruit like it on this planet, though I understand one called a pomegranate is rather close. It's not the strongest liquor, but I can attest it is potent enough to ease a tired mind,"

"Are you hoping I'll be too drunk to kill her later?"

"You're an immortal. It stands to reason, therefore, that you won't be able to drink yourself into a stupor unless you so choose. So, let's start with Jennifer DeVice. Why are you so very upset with a woman I'm all but certain you haven't met?"

"That woman…" Rini seethed, clutching her glass tightly. She quickly finished off that serving, staring into the empty glass. Drusilla interrupted Rini's brief mental abatement by refilling Rini's glass.

"That woman?" Drusilla prodded.

"That woman is a monster,"

"How so?"

"That monster… Sephiroth… she created that damn monster," Rini screamed, throwing her glass to the side. It crashed to the floor, splashing the wine all over the place as the glass shattered to confetti.

"I see," Drusilla remarked, paying no mind to Rini's outburst. "I can assume then that this Sephiroth person is the one who left all of you in such a state. How many?"

"What!?"

"Your feelings regarding this person, Sephiroth, are such that you can't contain yourself. From what I can tell Mr. Asakura lost at least one person close to him today, not counting when I informed him of his relative being among the dead. Sephiroth must have taken more from you than he did Mr. Asakura, someone closer to you than a tangential family relation that would bind you all under the name Rosencraft,"

"Why should I even talk to you!?" Rini angrily protested. "This is all just some game to you, isn't it? After all, you're protecting that damn woman!"

"That is true. I am protecting Jennifer. She's of relative importance to me, so I can't very well let you just run off and kill her. And, I will admit to knowing a little more than I've let on. However, I am also inclined to know a great deal before acting too rashly. So, to facilitate my own needs, perhaps I should be a bit more forthcoming to you.

"I will in due time be reclaiming Nemesis. Earth is a stepping stone to that goal, bred from the strong presence of our kind on this planet, namely you of the Rosencraft family. By right I should kill you all outright, including Jennifer, as the descendants of the ones who banished us from our home. But I've long buried that grudge. I feel that grudges breed unhealthy thoughts and actions.

"To prepare for my conquest, I've had agents of my empire gather information for me about the events that have been transpiring on this planet. The last report was a few months ago, so the information I have, although fresher than I can usually count on, is a little stale already.

"From the reactions you've shown, in addition to the reactions of the others, I can assume that the individuals that I see missing must then be dead. Among those then would include your cousins Yami and Evangeline, as well as your sister, Anzu. Also missing were the siblings Kenshin and Runa, as well as the young acquaintance of Mr. Asakura, Tea.

"Are you saying then that this Sephiroth person has been the one responsible for their deaths? No, your belief is more akin to his being the tool of their destruction, and Jennifer as being the one to brandish that weapon. I can already assume from my experience with Jennifer that you believe she created this Sephiroth. That is the only answer I can deduce from your placing the blame on her shoulders,"

"It's not just my sister, or my cousins," Rini said as tears streaked her face once again. "My mother, father, aunt, and uncle… even Lynette's mother…Yugi's grandfather… Tea's family… Jennifer DeVice created that monster and all he's done is take away everyone's loved ones, one after another,"

"The loss of all those you hold dear to you, my sympathies are not as profound as you might hope, but it is a pain I can understand. Anger and hatred well up in your heart as you wish to dismiss the reality you've become a part of. That hatred and anger latches on to whatever target makes any sense to you. Your heart slowly rots in this sickening miasma as you are flung between wishing yourself dead and obsessively pursuing vengeance. You drown in sinful karma, hating others and wishing on them endless misery. And sometimes, you assign an improper target. Jennifer…"

"Drusilla," the sound of Yugi's grandmother called.

Jennifer was scampering through the halls, clearly very distraught over a matter. Her voice was hoarse, likely from the crying, but also very angry. She stormed into the hall and past the guards, up to the top of the steps. Her eyes were filled with manic rage as tears were still slipping from her eyes. Rini was prepared to jump from her seat again the moment she heard Jennifer's voice, but Drusilla had already stood from her own seat, placing a hand on Rini's shoulder to have her stay seated.

"I cannot allow that at this moment, Jenna," Drusilla said with steady calm.

"That bastard killed my granddaughter! I'll rip 'im apart! That damn…"

"I understand," Drusilla said, walking to Jennifer and placing a hand on her shoulder. "The chance will come shortly, but for now someone else needs you. Think of the emotions he must have at this moment. Allow yourselves to ease each other's pain for now, think of your revenge another time,"

"I… I understand…" Jennifer replied with a frightful grimace that said she only gave up on the idea of arguing. She bit her lower lip nearly hard enough to draw blood as she slowly turned away. Yugi was slowly entering the room, pausing when met by a despondent, angry, Jennifer. She tried to wipe her eyes and put on a smile for him, but it was obvious she was having a lot of trouble doing that. She put her arms around him again and then they proceeded out of the room once more.

"I commend your restraint," Drusilla said to Rini as she was returning to her seat. "Even though I warned you about attacking Jennifer I can't imagine it was the easiest thing for you to keep control of your emotions,"

"Why're you trying to flatter me? It's not like some cheap flattery can win me over,"

"I don't imagine so. It wasn't intended as flattery but as a genuine statement of my viewpoint. Or, was it because you noticed Mr. Asakura?"

"You just love trying to read people, don't you?"

"Love or hate is irrelevant. It is necessary that I do so. If I fail to account for all the options a person may take in any situation, I will be the one at a disadvantage. That is the essence of being a ruler. I'm positive you understand that as well,"

"What's your goal? Did you come here to taunt us before getting your revenge? You blame us for what happened to your family, right? You're only angry because you couldn't kill all of us yourself,"

"As I said before, revenge isn't my motive. Even were I to bear a grudge, setting it against you would be pointless. The target of my vengeance died long before you were born. You may carry their blood still, but that's meaningless. My goal is simply conquest. I've spent many years rebuilding my family, and once that was done I built a new empire around them. Now, I will build an even greater one. This planet is just a stop along the way,"

"That's it, huh?" Rini scoffed, downing Drusilla's glass of wine.

"I thought you couldn't get drunk?" Drusilla teased, pouring Rini another glass.

"If you're gonna kill me anyway, what's the point? You were right," Rini slowly replied, her tone becoming very sour. "I _am _tired. Living a long time is exhausting, isn't it? I don't think I have anything left,"

"That's both funny and sad. How should I feel then, being your senior by so many years? But you seem to continue to misunderstand me. I don't really plan to kill you. I can't say what you will do from now on, but I don't see you as someone who will challenge me,"

"Is that your compassion again?"

"Yes, in my own way. Now, before you lose all composure, I will make another demand of you. I would like to hear the story of the Rosencraft family, of you, and of this planet. In particular I would like to hear about today. I want to know everything,"


	2. Chapter 2 - We'll Make It Together

**Chapter 2: We'll Make It Together**

"Your majesty, the Governor General of Earth has arrived," a young man said. He sat at a console on the bridge of a ship coming in for a landing at a spaceport. It was a rather slow descent, accentuated by the impatient raping of Drusilla's fingernails on her armrest.

"Thank you," Drusilla replied, the look of displeasure on her face worrisome.

There were a total of four people on the bridge, not counting Drusilla herself. The young man was new to his post as communication's officer, so he wasn't quite in tune to the small little snickers that came from the other three. He incorrectly assumed that they were poking fun at him. They would clear up that misunderstanding later once they went to lunch together.

Of course, the impatient anger of the empress is not usually a laughing matter, especially if you feel you're somewhat at fault. A green officer stationed in the confines of the bridge of a space vessel with the most powerful being in the universe is understandably vulnerable to the jitters of being new to that job. Drusilla can be very imposing, and unnerving, and frightening, so one can easily assume they are at fault any time she displays any anger. But, with seasoned experience you can learn to overcome such insecurities. The other three – the pilot, security officer, and engineer – had been Drusilla's flight crew on a number of other trips over the years. They were acutely aware of when they were or weren't responsible for any sour mood their empress might be in. That inherently gave them insight into what was the culprit.

Leading expedition after expedition to claim conquest over the known universe is indeed a stressful task. No matter how skilled or determined one might be, you are prone to becoming stressed at one point or another. You can sometimes find yourself becoming upset over non-issues.

It had been a little more than two years since the descent of Drusilla's armada into Earth's atmosphere. It was several days before most people on the planet knew what was going on in their skies. In those five days of agonizing terror a great deal of unrest fermented. It was an unintentional cruelty on Drusilla's part. She spent the first few days dealing with the Rosencraft, and then took a day off as a "mental health" day. On the fifth day she then got to work analyzing final write-ups of various bits of information her staff gathered about Earth since their arrival. As she had told Rini, conquest of Earth was just another step. She'd begun working on this plan some time ago and was already quite familiar with many details about the planet.

The waiting time did give Drusilla some help in assessing the temperament and combat capabilities of the nations. She deduced a number of classifications based on their reaction to her armada's presence.

First, the group she favored most were the rationalists. By her definition these were the nations whose leadership was firm and methodical, not quick to act without all their facts. Drusilla preferred these as she saw them most predictable. She counted on them being the ones that would sooner look to strike a deal than get involved in a war they had little idea how to fight. She concluded that once her ships descended into the Earth's atmosphere and displayed a certain level of resistance to attack, the impracticality of war would set in very quickly.

Her least favored groups were the idealists. These, she identifies, are nations with varying types of leadership, but rooted in either philosophical or religious dogmatic ideas. They are quick to label enemies and foes and persist in campaigns of war even if they don't see a hope of victory. These she dislikes dealing with as negotiations are all but impossible. Furthermore any agreements with these types are likely to be disingenuous as they will back out at their convenience, using peace treaties and the like as nothing more than stall tactics. Even so they are still rather predictable in the methods and actions they will take. These make up the smallest portion of the nations of the Earth, but the ones Drusilla was most concerned with. The ones that "jumped the gun" and started firing on ships in their skies, tend to ferment hatred and zealous indignation before knowing anything of the enemy they're up against. In all the worlds previously taken under her banner, these nations made the road most difficult by sowing the seeds of militancy and insurgency. Thus even after conquering a world retaining order and control became a difficult task.

Somewhere in the middle are the irrationals. These are the types that say one thing and act counter to that statement. This is different from the public/private faces of the rationalists who look to bolster public sentiment while actually negotiating behind closed doors. It is also different from the idealists who you can rely on to enter a peace treaty on false pretenses or in bad faith. The irrationalists, as Drusilla labels them, are juveniles with even less common sense than that. The divergence between their ideas and actions are not calculated strategies, but some defect in the way they view the world which leads to them acting counter their own thoughts. They lack both the will and ability to pick a set of ideals and stick to them, adjusting on the winds. Of benefit however is the fact that they also lack overall strength or organization of a level to be concerned about. They are relatively easy to manipulate and though liable to fight a war, aren't likely to stick with it for very long. They turn on the whims of public opinion very easily and rely heavily on having robust public support. Even if they were to have a chance at victory, if the people were to become fed up with the effort, they would back down.

Earth posed a somewhat unique challenge for Drusilla. Not the first one she'd come across like this, Earth was more fragmented politically than most. Many worlds were united under a handful of governments at the most by the time they were greeted by Drusilla's armada. Earth, with its patchwork of individual nations, economic and political agreements, and international governments with little cohesiveness, made conquest a bit more complicated than Drusilla had become accustomed to. Even if wanting to use the United Nations as a forum for negotiations there was still the fact that that body itself lacked the capability to enforce any agreement that only a portion of the body acquiesced to. In effect it was less like conquering one world and more like attempting to conquer over a hundred at once.

Nevertheless, once she began the negotiations she no longer had to suffer the nuisance of swatting down ballistic missiles fired up at her ships. There were two other things Drusilla didn't have to worry about once she began talks on the sixth day. Number one was the Rosencraft family. She had come to Earth expecting them to be her largest obstacle. But events set in motion before she ever arrived changed that possible future.

The second thing she didn't have to worry about was Sephiroth. He was a potential obstacle she didn't know about until she arrived. Once Drusilla was on Earth, however, Sephiroth became preoccupied with the defense of Nemesis from the inevitable attack.

Inevitable it was that Sephiroth and Nemesis would come under threat from Drusilla's armada. It was simply a matter of time. Before ever descending on Earth Drusilla knew she would be on to Nemesis in short order. It was a sentimental step. It would be a great emotional boost to the armada to be able to claim Nemesis, their ancestral home. As the ruler of Nemesis it was his choice to either stay and defend that world, or run. He likely never considered that he might be vulnerable.

Nemesis was no weak planet without experience in space, as the Earth was. It had a long history, obviously one longer than Neo Nemesis under Drusilla Arenzai's leadership.

Sephiroth would not face an empress leading her empire to fight a war of attrition. It was not even a war of conquest as it had originally been. Neither was this war about annihilation of an entire planet. This war became something more personal. As it was requested of her by her friend Jennifer DeVice, of Jennifer's grandson Yugi Asakura, and of the furious and heartbroken Rini Rosencraft, this war became a personal matter of vengeance. It was a vendetta – for Jennifer's lost granddaughter, for Yugi's lost friends and family, and for Rini whose entire lifetime was filled with the misery of having that single monster destroying all the family she ever had.

The delivery of vengeance was neither immediate nor quick. To begin with, Drusilla had to complete her conquest of Earth. The war was very brief and very confined. As Drusilla thought and hoped, many of the nations of Earth fell into her preferred classification of rationalists, or were of rationalist leanings of the other two classifications. While this avoided the firing of weapons for the most part, it meant a lengthy period of talks, which was fine for Drusilla; she preferred things this way.

Talks concluded just under a year following Drusilla's arrival. Two weeks later Drusilla was officially named the sovereign of all of Earth and its seven neighboring planets. As per the negotiated settlement all existing terrestrial political and military agreements were abolished. All of the national borders were ceremonially abolished, although the enforcement of these were maintained and were to be slowly phased out as certain lingering nationalistic issues were settled.

Management of all these issues was placed under the prevue of a special magistrate. He was an Earthling appointed by Drusilla to serve as the intermediary between the Earth and the Neo Nemesis Empire. It wasn't an enviable position. Although it was a temporary position – until a Governor General was appointed – it meant two things; the individual in this position had the difficult task of bearing the ire of the transition, and that Drusilla was more or less done with the planet. She would no longer be very involved with this planet.

In fact unless for some planned special ceremony of relatively high significance it wasn't likely that most people alive now on the planet would see her face again before they died. It would be bad if they did, because that likely meant that the planet was being so unruly that she decided to personally return to put things back in line. Unlike her first trip to the planet it wasn't likely that one would be as much of a bloodless affair.

For the six months following the completed conquest of Earth, Drusilla planned her incursion on Nemesis. Most of the armada had left the Earth system only six weeks after it arrived. Earth simply didn't have the means to fight a proper war against space vessels to begin with, so all of these ships would have been sitting in space without even a reasonable expectation of being needed. After resupplying and establishing some outposts and other logistical matters, nearly ninety-five percent of all ships in the armada that went to Earth redeployed towards Nemesis. They ended up waiting nonetheless as it took a bit longer than Drusilla hoped to finish her Earth conquest and then satisfactorily plan for Nemesis.

The planning for Nemesis was not particularly complicated on its face, but it needed to be detailed. Unlike much of her conquests, there would be no negotiations here. Her goals for the conquest inherently created a system of great unrest. The first goal of her mission was the death of Sephiroth.

In most wars the death of the supreme commander or political leader of the opposing side is the quickest means of inhibiting the conflict. However, that usually is not an express goal of military campaigns. The aftermath of war requires a system of leadership in place if chaos is to be avoided. You don't want to completely eviscerate the government because it has served a role in maintaining some order and stability in that territory. Any other outside group trying to maintain order will certainly be seen as an aggressor and invader, no matter the methods or deeds they perpetrate or the crimes of the deposed government. Thus, wars are often a contest of wills – breaking the enemy's will to keep fighting. Either by the credible but usually false threat of death or by the attrition to economic stability, the will to fight is what is usually targeted.

Drusilla thought about all this before each of her conquests. With Earth a show of power sufficed; simply showing that the military power of the nations of the Earth were of no match for the might of her armada. But Nemesis would be different. There were two separate intents. She wanted the planet, but first she was going to have Sephiroth die. She made that promise to three people… that Sephiroth would die.

For his part, Sephiroth was not going to simply appease the returning conqueror. Nemesis, as already mentioned, was no passive little smudge in the universe. It may not have been on the path of conquest that Neo Nemesis had been on, but it had done quite well for itself. Several planets in its own solar system were under its control and had been for some time, a few from before Drusilla was even born. Nemesis' military was robust and certainly skilled. If this were a more normal war he would have had an advantage.

The key to any war is the chain of supplies available to each side. If two sides are evenly matched in strength and will, it becomes a war of attrition to see who can keep fighting the longest. Even without the edge in strength or will, the side with the greatest supply chain can withstand an enemy and drag out the war until the other side can't continue on. Conversely, the side which can manage to destroy the enemy supply lines quickest can likely claim victory in the battle.

On its face a war would favor Nemesis. Being that the war was to be fought on their own territory, Nemesis had the luxury of secure flows of supplies. They controlled their own solar system, so they wouldn't have to worry about maintaining supply routes through enemy lines. As the defensive side their only criteria for winning would be to hold off the enemy until they burnt themselves out. But this first glance at the scope of war was incorrect. Drusilla was not attempting to slip a noose around Nemesis. She'd constructed a spider's web.

Indeed, Nemesis in a more conventional war would have the advantage. While Drusilla's armada would need to be frugal with its supplies to last until regular shipments from far off Neo Nemesis arrived, Sephiroth's forces would only have to look to the nearest planet. But Drusilla was not just the queen of Neo Nemesis. She was the empress of an intergalactic empire. Her supply lines weren't a single tether to their home world of Neo Nemesis, but a complex web of lines to various other planets. This meant that Drusilla could pull in as many resources as she needed with relatively astounding speed. Thus in a war of attrition, even if her forces were to be weaker, she could force her opponent into depleting their own comparatively limited resources.

Traditionally in a truly even keel battle Nemesis would play the role of defense. Sephiroth would normally be able to simply hold off the enemy until that enemy retreated after making no progress. Neo Nemesis would have to be aggressor because their entire goal would rest on the ability to make forward progress. But because of this difference in just the supplies that would be at their disposal, Drusilla could force Sephiroth into an offensive stance. Nemesis couldn't afford to be defensive because the war would become one of attrition and they would surely lose. Offense was their only choice, placing their bets on the ability to somehow manage to land a crippling blow to the Neo Nemesis armada and force its withdrawal. For the Earth which faced similar considerations, the lack of an ability to fight back in the first place sealed the deal and left them with only two options; fight and die, or surrender. Sephiroth did not have the latter option.

So, with her armada of over nine hundred ships, Drusilla went to war with Sephiroth. She weaved her spider web around him and left him no means of escape. Eighty-seven days later, with Rini Rosencraft, Drusilla entered a military command center on Nemesis. Less than twenty minutes later, they emerged before Jennifer, Yugi, May, Sisi, and Lafiel, Rini carrying Sephiroth's severed head. On day ninety-one the war between Nemesis and Neo Nemesis was over, Drusilla claiming victory.

Things slowly began to change once this matter was settled. Drusilla didn't show it too much, but she was quite ecstatic when she reclaimed Nemesis. She took the uncommon step of declaring her victory not at the official end of negotiations, but the morning after the death of Sephiroth. Negotiations formally began after her victory pronouncement.

Not many seemed willing to fight once that news of Sephiroth's death got out. There were still some light bits of fighting that persisted, though much of this was from those ignorant of the way in which the war had progressed, falsely assuming that Drusilla's armada must have been greatly weakened in all the conflict.

It wasn't truly as though they had a means to fight anyway. Sephiroth concentrated much of the Nemesis Empire's forces for the sake of his narrow shot at defeating Drusilla. Furthermore Drusilla's plans entailed a steady march towards Nemesis, not the process of taking control of each planet on her way. But with Sephiroth's plans, the ability of the worlds left in her wake to do anything was non-existent.

Nevertheless, the negotiations ended in just under a year, similar to her negotiations with Earth. Relatively speaking however these were much smoother and faster than should have been expected. Earth was one planet. Nemesis was not only a larger planet, but had a number of other planets under its auspice. To negotiate with them all should have taken much longer than it did. But they were exhausted as well.

For a time, Nemesis absorbed the line-share of Drusilla's attention. Even after negotiations were completed, she spent another ten months directly overseeing much of the rebuilding of the political and economic systems. She did not even bother assigning a magistrate to oversee the entire affair, opting to place one of her advisors in the role of fielding issues as they came in, and herself taking up many of the duties that a magistrate would otherwise have taken up if installed. She also had her siblings participate directly in the process, they like her not often asked to do the hands on work at such a level of detail. One can only imagine what progress that afforded to the entire process of re-establishing Nemesis, likely speeding up the normally delicate dance of political reconstruction by as much as a decade.

Drusilla did have some time for other matters. As she had told them a number of times, she'd given up her grudge against the Rosencraft long ago. At this moment she envisioned them more in service to her empire, though she put it in somewhat more delicate terms than that. She offered them each an opportunity to serve in whatever field of expertise was suited to them and in the capacity they preferred, if it were open to them.

Noa would take up a position in research and development as part of an arm of a government funded science institute. A non-military organization, his work is primarily focused on advancements in commonly used devices and items in use in the public sphere, including transportation and medicine. He specifically chose to work in a public/private type organization because, as he put it, it allowed him the luxury of both worlds. He noted that through the ties to government he could be open to virtually any resources he wanted to use, but that by being a private institution there was more freedom in projects to take up rather than being pigeonholed into weapons projects.

May and Sisi both turn towards the role of foreign ministers. Although the specific job title is a bit more complex, the idea is basically the same; they are political advocates for the empire. They were Drusilla's firefighters, putting out political fires wherever they were sent before they could erupt into an all-consuming blaze of civil war; that's how Drusilla described it, though not in quite as exuberant and boisterously one might imagine such a statement being delivered. Regardless, it would be a little while before May and Sisi were let loose on any really major issues. They still didn't know enough about the Neo Nemesis Empire to be expected to delve all too deeply into all its possible political intrigue just yet.

They started out simply as deputy foreign ministers, their duties restricted to non-official capacities and observatory roles. Only nine months later however they were bumped up to full ministers. So far they've only been sent out to relatively small assignments such as official representatives of the royalty or to be official moderators on small territorial disputes and the like; more like rescuing cats stuck in trees rather than fighting the fires Drusilla talked about.

Lafiel was now fairly far from home. She spent a little over a year and a half in a military officer training program, Drusilla bending the rules slightly to allow it. Lafiel became an officer and was temporarily assigned to a unit during the war with Nemesis. Her unit was the one that would make the final push through Sephiroth's defense line and corner him in his command center. After the war, with a commendation for her services in the war and a two rank promotion, Lafiel was given command of an expeditionary force. A scouting unit, its duty was to fly out through space and conduct reconnaissance on worlds suspected to be inhabited. They didn't have an edict to engage with these worlds in any capacity, only observe them and send the reports back to Drusilla and her government.

Occasionally forces like these would encounter worlds that already knew of Neo Nemesis, or the new concern at this point being whether they know of Nemesis also, and either look to start up a dialogue or in rare occasions attack them hoping to dissuade further incursion into the region by a true battle fleet – the first step to war. Lafiel liked this assignment. She stated a distaste for returning to combat anytime soon, despite the fact that both with the Rosencraft and during the war to take Nemesis she had proven herself to be quite a skilled tactician, skills she wouldn't be able to use as readily as a scout.

Rini probably took the most divergent path out of them all. Until Sephiroth's death Rini hadn't done much of anything at all. She seemed to simply be waiting for each day to pass. She would try to talk to those who visited her, but it was easy enough to tell she was only trying for their sakes. She surprised them all after Sephiroth's death when she declined Drusilla's offer to pick a path in her government. Instead, Rini decided she would become a school teacher. It wasn't that there was reason to doubt her ability to do well in this capacity. I was that she had shown no signs of leaning towards such a relatively mundane future. She was, after all, a princess as far as they were concerned. Even if turning down working for Drusilla, they thought she might jut retire to some favored location or another and live a stress-free lifestyle. They had to admit nonetheless that as little as a year after Sephiroth's death she seemed to be genuinely much better and happy with her life as it was by then.

That left Yugi. Drusilla was on her way to meet him now.

In the days after Drusilla's arrival, Yugi spent a lot of time with his grandmother, thinking about what happened until that point and where he should go from there on. On the third day Drusilla approached him with a somewhat odd demand he didn't really understand at the time. She told him, virtually threatened him, to never go where she couldn't reach him. To this day he recounts it in his mind as the only time she has seemed somewhat vulnerable to him.

Later that same day Jennifer conveyed to him that it was Drusilla's wish that he complete a proper education on Neo Nemesis. Unsure of what to do with himself at the time, he tacitly agreed. A few days later as Drusilla's negotiations with Earth began Yugi travelled with his grandmother to Neo Nemesis and began an accelerated education program.

It wasn't entirely unusual, the program being one designed specifically to educate those from other worlds on the culture, history, customs, and language of Neo Nemesis, usually in preparation to be made nobles. Neo Nemesis nobles were people of wealth and influence of the planets which had been conquered by the empire. Almost always these were children of individuals who had been leaders in the government prior to the planet's fall to the empire, and were placed in likewise roles to their parents once completing their education and training.

Once Yugi completed the education and training, Drusilla had him return to Earth at around the time she was making her final push to Nemesis. With the time period for the termination of the special magistrate looming as well, she had him appointed as the Governor General of Earth. He was initially overwhelmed by the idea of being appointed to such a position, but felt no room to argue with Drusilla. Like the others, Yugi was there on Nemesis the day that Drusilla brought out Sephiroth's severed head and declared an end to that war.

Yugi continued to serve as the Governor General for Earth through today, Drusilla's first return to Earth since the end of her negotiations to settle issues with Nemesis, the first time she'd visit the planet since conquering it.

Her ship landed at the Atlach-Nacha Memorial Spaceport, a large facility completed one year after the signing of the final negotiated document recognizing Earth's inclusion in the Neo Nemesis Empire. As was customary, the Governor General and a number of other politicians and dignitaries, as well as the media, were present as she stepped down from the stairway. Yugi graciously greeted her and began to escort her to the motorcade that would take them to the Municipal Grand Hall. The Municipal Grand Hall was the new center of government for the Earth, the intermediary between it and Neo Nemesis.

Drusilla's visit today was to be about checking in on the progress of one of her latest holdings. It wasn't particularly common that the empress found time to do such a thing. However, noting that Earth was a unique case and a special situation due to the nature of its government before joining the empire, she alleged this was cause to remain in the area for a spell longer than normal. In truth, however, her motivations were more personal than that.

The first order of business would be a private meeting between the empress and the Governor General. It was another customary act, allowing the Governor General to voice any complaints or such in a more relaxed forum.

Governor Generals are often antagonized by the people they are tasked with serving, even the political figures they must work with, because they are seen as having sold out their home to the empire. Yet, they must maintain favor with the empress and the empire or else their world could end up suffering from her scorn or neglect. The empress must always show strength, Jennifer once told Yugi. If she does not, the subjects can become too spoiled and too bold. They will, consciously or not, look to take advantage of her good nature and the empire will start to be pulled apart. She must maintain an image of strength so as to retain control of the empire. Thus, by parsing details in private with the Governor General, the empress can avoid the emotional surprises of the grievances voiced in larger forums. She can play aloof and coy, demonstrating her rigidity and an air of confidence by claiming to have already been bothered by these trifles, while allowing the Governor General to appear as a righteous fighter on their people's behalf persisting in angering her over various demands.

"Right this way, your Excellency," Yugi said, opening the door to a private conference room within the Municipal Hall. "Would you like anything to eat or drink? I can have someone come right away," he continued after closing the door and heading for the telephone on a desk.

"Shut up," Drusilla said flatly, grabbing him by the sleeve as he was about to pass by her. She spun him around and forced him against the wall. With her hands clasped around his arms she forcefully presses her mouth against his.

"You…" Yugi started to say after Drusilla paused to take a breath.

"I said shut up," she repeated, having worked her hands up to the sides of Yugi's head and pulling him closer to her as she dove back in for another kiss.

"I thought we weren't supposed to do things like this," Yugi lightly teased Drusilla a few moments later. He sat on a chaise longue on the left side of the room, near the room's drapery covered gallery window, with Drusilla lying in his lap.

"I'm certainly allowed to change my mind, aren't I?" she asked casually.

"I guess that's true, Excellency,"

"I suppose I did lose my head for a moment there. I was a little too excited about our reunion,"

"You are a very busy person. A little excitement from time to time is understandable,"

"I feel as though you're patronizing me now,"

"I apologize for that," he said, kissing her forehead.

"Now I feel like you're trying to rile me up again,"

"What would you prefer I do to serve you then?"

"You're the only person who can rile me up, but I am the empress. I can't very well attend greetings today in such a state,"

"I feel a little intimidated to know I'm held in such a high esteem that I'd be thought of in the same sentence as the empire,"

"I wouldn't be here if you weren't at least that important,"

"I do feel kind of happy about that,"

"Only kind of?"

"Well, it's not that I'm not really happy. It's just that I'm a little worried about what comes next,"

"Are you afraid of losing me?"

"Is it weird for me to say that?"

"You must like to see me vulnerable…. To say something that sugary right now… are you trying to rile me up again? You must really like to have me squirm around in your lap. You're such a naughty little boy," she teased, reaching up and tapping the tip of his nose.

"I love to see you like this. I really do feel special that I'm one of the few that can see you like this. You're very cute,"

"Now I know you're doing this on purpose,"

"You still haven't answered my question,"

"You're quite a deviant, Yugi Asakura. Will you pressure me, despite the elegant way I avoided your question? Will you strip me bare even further? In the short time we've been together you've become quite devious. You look at me with that soft and gentle face and from your lips come the words of a provocateur,"

"Are you disappointed that you've found such a troublesome thing in your web?"

"Disappointed? Quite the opposite," she said as she raised herself up a little. She put her arm over his shoulder and leaned in for a kiss. "I look forward to having my web torn apart by you, having you rile me up, having you make my heart beat, for the rest of eternity,"

"Yes, your Excellency,"


End file.
